CATV systems provide a premise with many services including, but not limited to, Internet service, telephone service (e.g., voice-over-Internet protocol (“VOIP”) telephone), television service, and music service. Each of these services requires the CATV system and the premise to exchange bandwidth, such as, for example, radio frequency (“RF”) signals, and digital signals, among many others. Typically the CATV system is configured to use bandwidths that are separated from one another for the purpose of grouping transmissions, and more often the grouping is by the direction that the transmission are transmitted or received in the CATV system. That is, transmissions that have one frequency may be transmitted or received relative to the premise and/or the head-end of the CATV system in a direction that is different from transmissions that have a second frequency. As one example, transmissions that originate from the head-end facility and are transmitted to the premise are referred to herein as a downstream bandwidth, while transmissions that originate from the premise and are transmitted to the head-end facility are referred to herein as an upstream bandwidth.
FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a CATV system 100 that includes a head-end facility 102 and a plurality of local networks 104, which are connected to the head-end facility 102 by distribution lines 106. Each local network 104 includes a feed tap 108, a drop-line 110, and a portion 112 with a premise 114. The premise 114 is connected to the head-end facility 102 via the combination of the distribution line 106, the feed tap 108, and the drop-line 110. The system 100 further includes a downstream bandwidth 116 and an upstream bandwidth 118, both of which are discussed in more detail below.
Typically the downstream bandwidth 116 and the upstream bandwidth 118 are defined by upper and lower cutoff frequencies. Exemplary frequencies for the downstream bandwidth 116 are more than about 54 Mhz, and in one application can be from about 54 Mhz to about 1002 Mhz. Frequencies for use as the upstream bandwidth 118 are less than about 40 Mhz, and in one application can be from about 5 Mhz to about 40 Mhz.
The terms “downstream bandwidth,” and “upstream bandwidth” are used herein to generally describe some of the transmissions that are transmitted, exchanged, and manipulated within systems such as the CATV system 100. As is inherent in systems such as system 102, these terms are used in a manner that describes any number of transmissions. Moreover, each of the transmissions that are described by these terms may exhibit properties that are similar to, or different from, other the properties of other transmissions. These other transmissions can also be classified by the terms “downstream bandwidth,” and/or “upstream bandwidth” as used in connection with the various embodiments of the present invention that are disclosed, described, and contemplated herein.
In addition to CATV systems, systems that are configured similar to the system 100 of FIG. 1 include, but are not limited to, other uni-directional, and bi-directional communication systems that communicate with remote premises. Similar systems may transmit the transmissions via transmission lines, e.g., distribution lines 106, and drop lines 110. Transmission lines of the type used as the transmission lines are typically transmission-carrying conductors such as, for example, coaxial cable, shielded cable, multi-core cable, ribbon cable, and twisted-pair cable, among others.
Premises that are connected to the system 100 such as the premise 114 include, for example, homes, apartments (e.g., individual apartments, and/or townhomes), and businesses. These can have any number of devices and or appliances (collectively, “premise devices”) that are coupled either directly or indirectly to the drop-line 110. Techniques and equipment that are used to connect each of the individual premise devices to the head-end facility 102 are generally well-known to those familiar with CATV systems, and therefore a detailed discussion is not provided herein unless necessary to clarify any of the concepts of the present invention that are contemplated within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.
The premise devices can include, but are not limited to, desktop computers, notebook computers, televisions, gaming consoles, set-top-boxes (STB), and set-top-units (STU), among many others. These are generally configured to communicate with the head-end facility 102, via the downstream bandwidth 116 and the upstream bandwidth 118. For example, the premise devices typically receive the downstream bandwidth 116 from the head-end facility 102, and can transmit the upstream bandwidth 118 to the head-end facility 102.
To take advantage of the services that are offered by the CATV system, the upstream bandwidth will include inputs from the premise devices. These inputs may include data that is encoded so that it can be transmitted to the CATV system. It is also likely, however, that the upstream bandwidth will include noise that can interfere, upset, or otherwise negatively impact the exchange of data between the premise devices and the CATV system.
Noise often originates inside of the premise. As illustrated below, it is often introduced at one of the many input ports that are provided as part of the interior wiring that is found inside the premise. For example, some household appliances, and RF equipment generate noise that finds its way into the upstream bandwidth because the noise is inadvertently picked up by the input ports that are not connected to one of the premise devices. Vacuum cleaners, blenders, and household transformers all generate noise that can have deleterious affects on the exchange of information between the premise devices and the CATV system via the upstream bandwidth Likewise, wireless telephones, cellular phones, and baby monitors are specifically designed to generate RF that, while necessary for the functionality of the RF equipment, can interrupt communication between the premise devices and the head-end of the CATV system.
One way to eliminate the noise is to remove the offending devices from the premise. This solution is, of course, simply not feasible and overly restrictive. But it is likewise unacceptable to permit what is by all accounts an inherent flaw that leaves the upstream bandwidth susceptible to this noise. That is, while the downstream bandwidth is generally free of noise because it is monitored and serviced by skilled network engineers employed by the CATV system, the content of the upstream bandwidth is essentially unmonitored because it is left to the premise owner's knowledge, skill, and experience with the equipment that is found at the premise.
Accordingly, there is a need for a device that can maintain the integrity of the upstream bandwidth at the premise, while operating in a manner that requires limited, if any, attention from the premise owner. Such a device is necessary to alleviate the problems that noise can cause such as, for example, the problems related at least to the efficiency and the effectiveness of the data exchange between the premise devices and the CATV system via the upstream bandwidth.